Announcements

Opteron now gets an ARM twist with the introduction of the development kit from AMD. Announced this week, the “Seattle” Opteron processors will have quad ARM CPU cores and will feature low power consumption. The kit will encompass 16 GB of RAM, 8 SATA ports, PCIe connectors. The processors employ dual-channel DDR3/DDR4 memory controller, that supports SODIMM, UDIMM or RDIMM ECC memory with maximum supported data rates going up to 1866 MHz.
The Opteron A1100 Series … Read entire article »

Just when everybody thought that the iPad was going to remain the King of Tablets, Android is quickly moving to take the fight directly to Apple with the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire.
While there is very little actual information, Tech-Thoughts has decided to try to estimate the number of sales of the Nexus 7 for the entire year of 2012. They have used some reports and assumptions to try to come up with a … Read entire article »

In one of the best Android phone deals, Virgin Mobile has the HTC One V at 20% off and is selling for $159.99 ( and yes shipping is free). Once you go to their site, it will show a price of $199, however, if you add it to your cart, it will show up for $159.99 ( Thanks Alex for the tips).
The deal Expires 9/10. There are other smartphones, better than … Read entire article »

In one of the best entry to mid level notebook deals, Office depot has Core i3-2370M based notebook for only $379.99. The Core i3-2370M is the highest clock 2nd generation core i3 processor, with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz.
A purely christian laptop, it does not come with fancy HDMI, bluetooth et. el. But it has all the regular features of a common notebook – 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive ( … Read entire article »

In one of the best deals for Tablets, Walmart has the Iconia Tab A100-07U08W at just $149. Obviously the launch of the Google ‘s Nexus 7 has put some pressure on 7 inch tablets.
However, as compared to the Nexus 7, this one comes with dual core Tegra 2 processor in place of Nexus 7 quad core processor. Additionally, you get the brand new Nexus 7 at $199 and not a refurbished one.
Quick Specs:
… Read entire article »

One issue with the Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet is its smaller 7 inch screen size, otherwise a great product for $199. If you wish a larger screen and still pay less, you have a chance to get 10.1 inch Asus TF101-A1 at just $179.
However, the TF101-A1 comes with dual core Tegra 2 processor. The Intel’s Nexus 7 has quad core Tegra 3 processor which makes it much more responsive. This is not something … Read entire article »

Frys has the ASUS X53U-FS11 laptop for $259 available through its stores. It is not something you can order online. You will have to check your store for availability and pick up from your local store.
The good thing about this notebook is that it is a regular notebook with 15.6 inch screen – and comes surprisingly with an HDMI connection. It has webcam as well and decent 320 GB Hard Disk.
Unfortunately, its C-60 processor is … Read entire article »

As we are well into the second half of 2012, let us look back into the financial healths of AMD and Intel in the 1st half of 2012. As we had reported earlier – the gap between Intel and AMD is widening ( we measured the gap by way of ratio of the Intel revenue versus AMD revenue).
The table below provides a quick update on the revenue for the two quarters of 2012 and the 1H 2012.
Table : Q1 and Q2 revenue, Intel Vs AMD
Year
Intel
AMD
Ratio of Intel to AMD Revenue
Q1, 2012
$12.9 bn
$1.59 bn
8.11
Q2, 2012
$13.5 bn
$1.41 bn
9.57
1H 2012
$26.4 bn
$3.00bn
8.80
In the 2011, the ratio of the Intel to AMD revenue stood at 8.22. This has ballooned to 8.80 in the 1H 2012. The ratio has been steadily … Read entire article »

According to a recent survey conducted by ChangeWave – nearly 14% of mobile users are ready to buy iPhone5 a figure significantly above 10% – the number of people that were likely to buy iPhone 4S prior to the launch of iPhone 4S, when the survey was conducted in Oct 2011. When asked if they were somewhat likely to buy – the corresponding figure is 17% for iPhone 5 Vs 11.5% for iPhone 4S ( … Read entire article »

The popular Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS has told the media that they are going to upgrade their Tablets to operate on the latest Android Operating System 4.1 popularly known as Jelly Bean. Asus did not reveal which devices are going to first get upgraded with the Jelly Bean, nor have they provided and scheduled launch date. Transformer Pad Infinity, Transformer Pad & Transformer Pad Prime are likely among the first few tablets which should hit the market with the upgraded Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS.
Jelly Bean is an Android version delivering best in class performance with lowest touch latency. Google’ updated of 4.1 version for Android has several amazing features such as voice search, enhanced notifications, a novel camera application, Google Now, Offline voice typing & many other remarkable … Read entire article »

IDC (International Data Corporation), the Industry Watcher of the modern era is expecting that the total revenue generated in the year 2012 will be approximately 315-320 billion dollars & is expected to rise to $380 bn by the end of 2016. International Data Corporation has predicted that the growth in the semiconductor industry will be due to the high end increasing demand for automotive electronics, Smartphone’s , tablets & other latest technology gadgets. The optimism is generated even when the sales growth of desktop segment is stays stagnant and notebook sales not too optimistic. International Data Corporation has given an estimate of 4.6 percent increase in revenue generated (i.e. 315 billion dollars) by the year end of 2012 and is expecting that it will see an increase of … Read entire article »

Update 8/9/2012 : The deal is still live on Circuit City as of August 9. 2012. You can find the latest processors deals here.
Way back in May 2012, Circuit City had this processor at this low price just after introduction of the Ivy Bridge processor. We once again have a low price – not at Circuit City this time.
Tigerdirect has Intel Core i5-3570K ( Part Number BX806237i53570K) processor for a reasonable $209 if you use coupon code UZV66433.
Overclockers will find delight in this Ivy Bridge processor which has a base clock of 3.40 GHz.
It should not be hard for you to overclock this processor to over 4.0 GHz. Heat issue will prevent you to go much beyond 4 GHz ( Unless you have some really good cooling). The TDP … Read entire article »

One issue with the current Kindle Fire, otherwise a great product at the price it is offered ( $199) is its relatively smaller size. The smaller size makes lesser readable area available, making you scroll more often that you would like to. This is where Apple’s iPad makes a better choice.
When iPad 2 was at $499, Kindle fire still made a lot of sense at $199 – for one iPad 2, you could buy … Read entire article »

Update 8/9/2012 - The deal is still valid, though HP deal has gone or has changed.
There are two best deals for the Core i7-3610QM running now – one of them is by HP while the other one is the Ideapad Y480 ( Part Number 209388U ) from Lenovo.
The IdeaPad Y480 is a 14″ Notebook and its smaller size makes it better better mobility. Priced originally at $1599, you have a chance to … Read entire article »

To help readers choose desktop processors suitable for their tasks, compare-processors has decided to shortlist processors that provide the best value for the money.
Today’s list consist of 5 best processors for budget computing. While the Ivy Bridge is around the corner, we do not see any launch of the budget Ivy Bridge processors in sight. Obviously Ivy Bridge processors do not find in this list. Let is take a look.
Pentium G620
The Pentium G630 … Read entire article »

Between now and December 31, there are at least 5 big launches being awaited eagerly by both the media and the gadget enthusiasts. Ivy Bridge is the earliest one among them.
When Intel launches Ivy bridge on Monday, April 23, 2012, it will create another milestone in processor performance, scale new heights in manufacturing with its 22 nm, 3D technology and will increase its leads in CPU performance over its nearest rival Advanced Micro Devices. … Read entire article »

We have a mixed feeling after having played with the 2012 iPad 3 for few days. Frankly, the new iPad is not a game changer.
The degree of the difference between the iPad 2 and the new 2012 iPad is not as dramatic as between the 2010 iPad and the iPad 2. In 2011 when Apple launched the iPad 2, it was reasonably faster ( there are several you tube videos that shows real time … Read entire article »

The Zacate processors attempts to serve the needs of the huge market for the low cost notebooks, netbooks and entry level low cost desktops. The Zacate line of processor has been the best selling processor for AMD in 2011 and the trend continues in 2012. Along with the Llano fusion Accelerated APU, it has been able to lift revenue for AMD when bulldozer failed to deliver .
The basic premise in the Zacate APU design puts … Read entire article »

The AMD’s Llano, alongwith the Zacate series of Accelerated Processing Unit (APUs) have been the saviours for AMD. While bulldozer completely failed to deliver, Llano was a great success. Let us take a look at the key points in Llano features before we go into the architecture details
- Great Integrated Graphics and gaming performance
- Low power
- Moderate Processor performance
- Moderate cost
Llano is built at the Global Foundaries 32 nm High K Metal process … Read entire article »

For the last six years Intel has been successfully alternating its tick tock model to keeps processor performance improving. A tick is a change is the manufacturing processor while a tock is a change in the processor architecture.
Sandy Bridge is basically is tock as far as the processor architecture is changed. Intel made moderate changes in the processor core and some significant change in the integrated graphics. The Integrated graphics, which was on a … Read entire article »

Ivy Bridge Introduction
Improvement in the processor performance can be brought about in two ways. The first is by improving or changing the basic processor architecture and the second is by improving the manufacturing process ( basically change in the Lithography). In processor parlance, we call it the tick tock process. A tick is a manufacturing process change – for example, shrinking the die 32 nm to 22 nm lithography. A tock change is basic processor … Read entire article »

We have been comparing the processors of Intel and AMD for a long time. Let us take a break and compare the two companies where they stand in terms of finance, number of employees, fab units and other interesting factors. In this and successive posts we will present you with graphical comparison of the the two chip conglomerates.
Sales
Let is start with the sales figure for the financial year ending December 2011.
This is hardly surprising and … Read entire article »

Here is an illustration of the process of manufacturing a silicon chip. Along the lines we will present some of the terms used in processor and processor manufacturing. Most of the material has been taken from Intel’s 32 nm technology but the idea presented applies to most of the modern silicon manufacturing process.
With about 25% (mass) Silicon is -after Oxygen -the second most frequent chemical element in the earth’s crust. Sand -especially Quartz -has … Read entire article »

Compare-Processor.com has compiled the comparative study of the annual revenue of Intel and AMD for previous 4 years. In 2008, Intel was 6.47 times as big as AMD. The recession hit in 2009 and Intel as well as AMD suffered in terms of revenue. The parity between the Intel and AMD was still maintained. Intel was 6.50 time bigger than AMD.
The 2010 started seeing some economic recovery. The revenue of Intel as well as … Read entire article »

Apple leverages the volume of the sale, to create a processor, that other will not be possible for traditional processor designers. Apple’s A5 is a not just a processor – it is an ecosystem that combines a processor, 512 MB of DDR2 RAM, and an advanced graphics on a single chip. We have already seen integration of the processor and the graphics – for example, Tegra 2 is quite aggressive with its graphics and it … Read entire article »

Headline

Quick Sync is the on chip hardware video encode and decode engine to make it competitive against other GPUs. A hardware video encode is typically 10x faster than the corresponding software only video encode.
The video encode depends upon the number of graphics cores and therefore, as Intel increased the number of graphics cores from 12 in HD Graphics 3000 to 16 in HD Graphics 4000, there naturally was gain in the performance of video encode. Video encoding is one of the best reasons to get a better graphics. Needless to say, Intel did not disappoint with Quick Sync.
The Quick Sync newer HD Graphics 4000 now allow selectable tradeoff between image quality and performance. Selecting the Better Quality option increases the bitrate which eventually results in increased … Read entire article »

The AMD’s Radeon HD 6630M is a discrete graphics while Intel’s HD 3000 is an integrated graphics ( in Sandy Bridge line of processors). The Radeon HD6630M gives out significantly better performance … Read more »

Since 2012, More than 90% of notebooks and more than 80% of the desktops have integrated GPUs. The Integrated graphics are obviously, less powerful than the dedicated graphics processors ( GPUs for short) or the video cards ( in desktops). Intel started integrating Graphics capability inside its processors, starting with its Arrandale processors launched in 2010. Graphics capability in Arrandale ( called HD Graphics) was embarrassingly slow. It was not for any gaming and did not have anything worth mentioning in terms of video encoding or multi display capability. Arrandale processors were two die solution.
Next year in 2011, when Intel launched Sandy Bridge, it moved the processor and graphics in a single die. The graphics … Read entire article »

The i5-4200M is a regular power notebook processor while the i5-4500U is a low power notebook processor. It is not an apple to apple comparison, in the sense that, the low power notebook processor are especially intended for thinner laptops and also for low power consumption ( and therefore thinner batteries or longer battery lives). However, there may be instances where you have the option purchasing a regular laptop and a thinner laptop. We expect that the details underlined below will help you take informed decision.
In terms of base clock frequency the Core i5-4200U is much slower, however, it makes up quite a bit of it with turbo clock frequency.
The benchmark score … Read entire article »

The Intel’s Core i5-4200U and i5-4200M are Haswell processors ( Successors to Ivy Bridge). The i5-4200U is a low power variant with a Thermal Power Dissipation ( TDP) rating of 17 Watts while the i5-4200M is a normal power processor with a TDP rating of 35 Watts.
The i5-4200M has 900 MHz higher clock frequency ( 2.50 GHz Vs 1.60 GHz) which will seemingly make it substantially faster but for the fact that the difference in their turbo clock is not as high ( 3.1 GHz Vs 2.60 GHz). The lower base clock allows the i5-4200U to run at lower power envelope and preserve battery life. At the same time the processor performance does not … Read entire article »

The Intel’s Core i7-4500U and the core i5-4200U belong to the Haswell series and it makes it easy to compare them apple to apple as both share same manufacturer and series. Both these processors are dual core ( and both do support Hyperthreading). The Core i7-4500U has 200 MHz higher base clock frequency ( 1.8 GHz Vs 1.6 GHz) and 400 MHz higher turbo clock frequency (3.0 GHz Vs 2.6 GHz). The i7-4700U also comes with higher Cache ( 4 MB Vs 3 MB).
This results in about 18% higher peak performance for the core i7-4500U.
Both of them have identical integrated graphics ( Intel HD Graphics HD 4400), so expect identical integrated graphics … Read entire article »

Intel’s core i3-3220 belongs to its newer Ivy Bridge group while the i3-2100 is older Sandy Bridge processor. The Core i3-3220 is clocked 200 MHz higher ( 3.30 GHz Vs 3.10 GHz in i3-2100). This itself bring about an improvement of the order of 6.45%. The Ivy Bridge has brought a clock to clock improvement of 10% over Sandy Bridge.
We should therefore look at the performance improvement of the order of 15% in the i3-3220 with respect to i3-2100.
The Ivy Bridge also brings a better integrated graphics – the HD Graphics 2500. Unfortunately it is not the superior HD Graphics 4000. But we should still see improvement over the HD Graphics 2000 in the i3-2100. … Read entire article »

The Intel core i3-4130 belongs to the newer Haswell Series while the Core i3-3220 is older Ivy Bridge processor. The newer Haswell architecture speeds up by about 7% for the same clock frequency.
The Core i3-4130 has 100 MHz higher clock frequency than the i2-3220 ( 3.4 GHz Vs 3.3 GHz).
The 3% higher clock frequency and a better architecture translates into a 10% processor performance improvement for the Haswell i3-4130. In real life, however, do not expect that all applications will benefit by this performance improvement. Only when your application pushes the processor performance requirement, you will be able to notice the difference in performance.
The Integrated graphics performance, however, improves significantly in the Haswell, bringing close … Read entire article »

Opteron now gets an ARM twist with the introduction of the development kit from AMD. Announced this week, the “Seattle” Opteron processors will have quad ARM CPU cores and will feature low power consumption. The kit will encompass 16 GB of RAM, 8 SATA ports, PCIe connectors. The processors employ dual-channel DDR3/DDR4 memory controller, that supports SODIMM, UDIMM or RDIMM … Read entire article »